Did Rachel Maddow mean to suggest racism in naming long polling place lines as “the new poll tax”? After all, poll taxes were outlawed in 1964 by the 24th Amendment, which ended a mechanism of vote suppression dating back almost a century.

With minimum wage over $7/hour, standing in line over an hour to vote IS a poll tax.

States with a greater African-American population had more reports of long lines.

That means 8 hours in line will cost families over $50, and that has a disproportionately greater impact on the African American community where low income is more common.

What is inevitable, is that where there are lines, fewer people vote, not because they leave the line but because so many don’t get in the line in the first place.

Where not as many people vote, one party benefits.

Long lines are being used to discriminate in 2012 the same way that poll taxes were used to discriminate in the 1950s.

That violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Something which should trigger federal action after the election is over.